Brock Samson
Brock Samson is one of the main characters on the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros., serving as a parody of Race Bannon and other super-competent individuals in adventure serials. His name is a play on Biblical strongman Samson, with whom Brock shares a near-indestructible nature and, except for a few episodes at the beginning of the second season, long hair. He is voiced by Patrick Warburton. Background Brock was born to a single mother in Omaha, Nebraska, apparently sometime in the early 1960s. He is one half Swedish, one quarter Polish, and one quarter Winnebago Indian. He has one brother who has never been named or featured on the show. Sometime around the late 1970s, he received a football scholarship to an unnamed college, where his fellow students included Thaddeus "T.S." Venture, Pete White, and Werner Ünderbheit. Brock's college career ended one fateful afternoon when he accidentally killed Tommy, the team's deaf quarterback, during practice. Haunted by guilt, Brock drank heavily and returned to his dorm and vented his frustrations by beating Dr. Venture and several other students in a blind fit of rage. The chain of events led to Brock's expulsion and decision to join the military. Little is known of his military service; different episodes have implied that he joined either the Army or Marines. Around 1982, Brock joined the Office of Secret Intelligence, a CIA-type organization of super spies that have been defending the interest of the U.S. since the second American revolution (the invisible one). There, he was trained by Colonel Hunter Gathers, an eccentric yet brilliant secret agent (modeled after, if not implied to be, Hunter S. Thompson), the "second closest thing to a father" he ever had, whose guidance led to Brock being granted a Level 8, Class A License to Kill, which he uses with great zeal. (Strangely enough, he failed to notice when his cherished authorization to kill expired.) During his time in the OSI, Samson faced "mind-blowing weirdness at every turn". Sometime during his years with the OSI he also developed a rivalry with a fellow agent named Aloysius, who was eventually demoted to what Brock considered a 'desk job' of Secret Service duty at the White House. The OSI eventually gave Samson his current assignment: to protect Dr. Thaddeus Venture and his family, ostensibly to prevent Venture's more dangerous inventions from falling into villainous hands and threatening national security. The official code name for this assignment is "Operation Rusty's Blanket". ("Rusty" was Dr. Venture's much-despised childhood nickname.) It has been implied by Aloysius that the assignment was not Brock's choice; that protecting Dr. Venture was a punishment assignment forced upon Samson for as of yet revealed "failures" of Brock during his time in OSI. Molotov Cocktease While many of the details of Brock's time with OSI have yet to be revealed, one aspect that has been fleshed out considerably is Brock's love/hate relationship with former KGB agent turned freelance mercenary Molotov Cocktease. The two first met early in Brock's career as an OSI agent during a mission in Paris. The two went into a hotel room for sex, only to have Molotov impale Brock upon the bed with her blades and light the room on fire (although Brock was more concerned with finding a cigarette to light up, she tossed one onto his chest after hearing his pleas). Molotov serves as an apparently perfect match for Brock: efficiently lethal and extremely hard to kill. Their rivalry has led to much bloodshed: Brock murdered Molotov's father, Molotov responded by murdering Brock's partner, resulting in Brock gouging out one of Molotov's eyes and keeping it as a reminder of her. Further complicating things was Molotov's decision to wear a chastity belt, which further frustrates Brock with his inability to act upon his sexual attraction to his nemesis. This mutual sexual attraction has led to their rivalry thawing somewhat and the two have become somewhat friends, with Molotov agreeing to fill-in for Brock as the Venture Family's bodyguard while Brock was away on OSI business. Afterwards, Molotov confronted Brock with an offer to run away with her and for a partnership as mercenaries for hire. Brock politely turned Molotov down, pointing out that he considers the Ventures his surrogate family and that he would not leave them for Molotov. Appearance Brock is depicted as the paragon of physically fit machismo: a mountainous man towering above most other characters and displaying massive muscles, a ridiculously square jaw, and an oversized head. It is also revealed in an encounter with Molotov Cocktease that he is impossibly well-endowed, further demonstrating his unparalleled manliness. Appropriate to his half-Swedish heritage, he has blonde hair and ice-blue eyes. His mullet hairstyle has become a trademark of sorts, to the point that its loss after the events of the first-season finale was mentioned in a TV Guide synopsis. Over the course of the second season, his hair has grown steadily longer in each episode; Brock has also begun sporting long mutton-chop sideburns in the second season. In keeping with the show's vaguely anachronistic sense of fashion, Brock is usually drawn in clothing styles popular in the 1970s: four-pocket sports shirts, skin-tight polos, pastel-colored pants, white shoes, and side-zip ankle boots are all recurring items of clothing in his wardrobe. He also sports a (half-finished) tattoo of Icarus on his right bicep, as Brock is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin. Personality and relationships Brock embodies the 'strong, but silent' stereotype, usually speaking in a low, gravelly murmur and maintaining a casual aura. He speaks in an oddly calm manner in anything short of the most urgent circumstances; his level voice is often at odds with his perpetually-crazed expression. However, he also has a hair-trigger temper which can cause him to snap at the slightest provocation, including a friendly touch on the shoulder at an inopportune moment. When he is engulfed in a fit of rage, he exhibits a near super-human strength, a facial twitch, and is apparently capable of enduring almost any kind of physical punishment imaginable; his 'normal' endurance is only slightly less impressive. Over the course of the show, he has been run over with a van, shot in the shoulder at point-blank range, struck with over two dozen poison tipped darts, buried alive, and exposed to the freezing vacuum of outer space for over a minute; the most severe result of any of these was a few hours' unconsciousness. Simple surgery to remove a bullet revealed that Brock's body harbored three additional bullets, a blowgun dart, two shark's teeth, a bayonet tip, a twisted paperclip, and some buckshot, none of which seemed to bother him. Brock's ability to endure pain is matched only by his ability to harm others (and enthusiasm in doing so). He has proven himself quite capable and willing to kill anyone or anything at a moment's notice, often in a grisly manner. Among the violent acts he has performed (or been described as performing) on the show: wrestling a crocodile into submission before thoroughly gutting it; killing and completely skinning an enraged polar bear in under 5 seconds; blowing a man's head off with a sock full of party snaps; crushing a man's arm and hurling him around the room using only his own rectum; impaling a man on a caulking gun and then filling him with caulk; pulling out a man's eyes and making him "dance like a marrionette" with his own optic nerves; maintaining a brutal death grip on a man's neck while unconscious; and decapitating a soldier, only to keep the head to listen for information on his earphones. Additionally, he can be briefly seen through the eyes of another character killing two men by pinning them to the wall with running gas lawnmowers. He is also quite thorough: on at least one occasion, he urinated on what appeared to be a mummy's corpse, in the belief that defiling it would prevent any subsequent reanimation. In combat he scorns firearms, instead preferring bladed weapons (particularly his saw-toothed Bowie knife), blunt objects, or his bare hands. He does, however, appear to make an exception for certain projectile-based weapons: he expressed a fondness for a functioning net cannon, complaining that too often they "only mess up the guy's hair." In addition, he honors one of his mentor's only rules: to never kill women or children, only subduing them with nonlethal means when necessary. Brock has an odd relationship with Dr. Venture. He doesn't always take the man seriously, yet dotes on him when he's hurt or ill. The two sometimes reminice about their past escapades with fondness and even cameraderie and laughter. Brock even obeys Dr. Venture's rule that he can't smoke inside the compound, and helps with domestic chores. Dr. Venture seems to have a fondness for Brock, even sharing simple things with him like having extra coupons for shopping. Brock has an avuncular (if not paternal) relationship with the Venture boys. He seems especially fond of Hank, who idolizes Brock. Samson shows greater concern for their well-being and development than Dr. Venture ever has, expressing concerns over Hank's sanity and Dean's effeminacy (though he never expresses the latter in such blunt terms), and also gives them useful advice on their first big date ("Victor. Echo. November."). His relationship with Venture and the boys has matured to the point that he refers to them as his family ("Hate Floats"), and it is suggested that he prefers being their bodyguard to the weirdness and moral ambiguity of his former life ("Assassinanny 911") (and considering the strange and fantastic exploits of the Venture family, Brock's former assignments must have been truly bizarre). It is of particular note that Brock's personality and relationships have evolved considerably throughout the series. In the beginning of the series he seemed to be hostile to most of the family, largely ignoring them and just focusing on brutally murdering his enemies and having sex with as many women as possible. As the series has continued he has begun showing considerable more affection to the Ventures, and a great deal of worry about their safety. Things have also been shown as disturbing him greatly, a big difference from the unfeeling Brock in the early episodes. He seems to be unfazed by most supervillains despite his comment that the Guild of Calamitous Intent is the only organization he still respects; the only one who seems to be able to deal with Brock on his own level is the Phantom Limb. Brock has proven himself able to sneak up on Limb and hold him at knifepoint, successfully convincing the Limb to not attack the Venture family anymore. He also has a troubled past with the Guild's Sovereign, David Bowie as the two exchanged curt pleasantries upon meeting each other once more at Dr. Girlfriend's wedding. Recurring themes Brock exhibits several stereotypical hyper-masculine behaviors and traits: * Muscle cars: One of the show's signature vehicles is Brock's red 1969 Dodge 'Hemi' Charger, which he maintains and cleans with a near-obsessive fastidiousness. On several occasions, the car has become an instrument of death and destruction: Brock has used it not only to fatally run down dozens of The Monarch's henchmen, but also to defeat Venture's twin brother Jonas Venture Jr. The latter act (in which Brock, chained to the car's roof, guided H.E.L.P.eR. through the difficulties of manual shifting) inflicted severe damage on the beloved car, which Brock repaired early in the show's second season. Brock has apparently implanted a flamethrower in the car's steering wheel and rigged it to activate during any attempt at hotwiring. * Womanizing: Brock has displayed a voracious sexual appetite commensurate with his macho bearing. No woman seems to be able to resist his advances once she catches his eye. His conquests range from sleazy (middle-aged prostitutes and overweight strippers) to bizarre (The Queen of the Ant People). This promiscuity is likely a reference to the legendary exploits of James Bond, another character with whom Brock has much in common. Some fans speculate that it is also a result of his forced-platonic relationship with Molotov Cocktease, who Brock describes as "the only woman I ever loved." The pair's encounters typically involve a rough combination of fighting and foreplay that borders on sadomasochism but ultimately leads nowhere. * Rock music: Brock's devotion to Led Zeppelin surfaces in several episodes. Some references are rather subtle (a sample of one of their songs playing while Brock is shown onscreen) while others are more overt, such as Hank rifling through Brock's collection of "Zep" cassette tapes or Brock drawing the winged Icarus logo of the band's label, Swan Song Records, instead of completing the essay portion of a written exam. He passionately belives that the band is more than just "jock rock" whose music talks about love and longing . . . and hobbits. In an "interview" with IGN.com, Brock has stated that his favorite track is Moby Dick from Led Zepplin's Live in Montreaux album. Adventures Since Brock serves as the "muscle" to Dr. Venture's alleged "brain," it is unsurprising that his exploits are among the show's most spectacular and action-intensive sequences. Over the course of the series so far, he has infiltrated The Monarch's cocoon base, killing dozens of henchmen, smuggled Sasquatch and the bionic man to safety, been buried alive in Tijuana, and taken part in a blood-soaked raid on an amusement park, among other things. Come the show's second season, his quick thinking has served the Venture family well, such as using Professor Impossible's own elasticity against him to retrieve pieces of a stargate Jonas Venture urged his son to build, taking down a cult devoted to Orisis with various historical figures, single-handedly hold off an attack from the Guild on the Venture compound, and helping a pathetic underground resistance overthrow Ünderland's ruler. He had recently been forced to seek and destroy his mentor Hunter for the OSI, due to Hunter having left with millions of dollars and decades of government secrets. Tracking him down to Macronesia, Brock found him unconscious and obviously having just received surgery: Brock threw the cover off to see Hunter suddenly had two large breasts. From Hunter's plastic surgeon he learned Hunter did not defect for treason, but rather to start a new life for himself as a woman. Brock let him live, after checking his crotch 'just to make sure' that killing him would have violated his "no women or children" rule. While at a tattoo parlor getting a tattoo of Icarus on his shoulder, the Monarch's henchmen-completely wasted at the time-managed to actually capture him (at the cost of many of their own, of course) and bring him and the rest of the Venture family to their leader. It had been the one time Monarch did not want the Venture clan in his grasp as he had sworn off their enmity in order to wed Dr. Girlfriend, and quickly came up with the excuse that he wanted them at the wedding as a sign of burying the hatchet. Brock was made wedding director and when the Phantom Limb struck the Cocoon and Guild in a coup d'etat; he quickly managed to rally the Monarch's forces and Cocoon to fight Limb's massive armada (unaware one of the henchmen was Hank). Dean in the meantime had accidentally shut off the Cocoon's power, leaving the fight for Girlfriend's hand to be fought by the Guild Sovereign (David Bowie) and Phantom Limb (and meaning Brock's presence for once was completely irrelevant). Near-death experiences Brock's remarkable ability to survive extensive injury has served him well, including the following incidents: Samson, Brock Samson, Brock Samson, Brock Samson, Brock